


On the Other Side

by fantasybees



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Coping with Death, Everyone is Dead, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Sad with a Happy Ending, angus is taakos child and no-one can dissuade me, background magnus and julia, everyone makes an appearance in some way or another, happy ending i swear, just a lot of major character death, taakitz, there's no violence, this is sad y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 11:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14735726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantasybees/pseuds/fantasybees
Summary: When living as an elf, sometimes you forget that other races don't live as long.(or that fic in which Taako has to watch everyone he loves grow old and eventually dies)





	On the Other Side

Taako always knew he’d be alone in the end. Actually, he didn’t, but the only thing he really had left in the end was his ability to always be right and he wasn’t about to give that up now.

So he lay, alone in the hospice, pretending to be right because it was the only thing he really had left. It wasn’t really anybody’s fault: Magnus, Lucretia, and Agnus were only human, after all, and it hurt more than anything to see them go. Luckily Kravitz would give him updates on occasion, telling him stories of Magnus and his wife, Julia, and their dogs on the island. Once Lucretia passed she joined them, and Davenport followed not too long after her. Kravitz remarked once that the human members of IPRE followed into death more gracefully than any he had ever seen.

It was rough, though, when Angus died. For the years leading up to his death, Taako couldn’t bear to be around. He was constantly researching ways to extend his life, but Angus only shook his head sadly. Taako knew as well as Angus did, extending your life by magical means would only get you hunted down by the Reapers of the Raven Queen, and when your adopted father and aunt and uncle were all Reapers, there wasn’t anywhere you could hide.

Eventually, Taako gave up the ghost and instead spent almost every waking moment with Angus, talking and telling stories of times long past, listening to Angus tell tales about his own adventures. When he could, Kravitz would stop by to support his husband and his son, sitting with them for as long as work would allow him to.

On the day Angus died, Kravitz sat with them all day. Angus wasn’t dumb, actually, he was far from it and he knew what it meant. So they smiled and laughed, all as a family. Angus’s children came in, with watery smiles and saying their goodbyes. Taako held his hand and told Angus how much he loved him; it wasn’t something he had done often and now he regretted it as he felt his husband disappear from his side and his son’s hand go limp and the light leave his eyes.

Taako barely comprehended his grandchildren all crying around him as his favorite detective passed into the astral plane. He didn’t let go of his dead son’s hand until Kravitz rematerialized and whispered quietly “He’s with family, our family. He is happy and safe, Taako.” Taako let go of Angus’s cold hand as if it had shocked him, suddenly latching on to Kravitz as if he were going to disappear again.

Taako couldn’t stop shaking, and Kravitz just gently pat his back and held him. It was hard when you were practically immortal, and seeing people you love pass was hard.

But life moved on, and when you were an elf, you learned to deal with those you love dying. Mortality was an impossibly hard conundrum to deal with after all, even without the factor of three hundred to six hundred years of variance to add into the mix. After Angus died, Taako grew cold and aloof again, just as he during his time during the decade he forgot about Lup and the IPRE.

But then Merle died and Taako hadn’t even known that Merle was getting old. The only way he had known was that Kravitz came back one night looking haggard and angry. When Taako had asked his husband what happened, he just spat out “Merle.”

Kravitz might have well slapped Taako across the face, and while neither of them really needed sleep, they went to bed almost immediately. Taako held Kravitz while the Reaper wept bitterly. As they were falling into a trance-like state, Kravitz whispered “Please don’t push people away, Taako. They don’t understand when they die, why people don’t come and visit them.” It was Taako’s turn to weep and he suddenly realized the full consequences of his isolation.

With Merle’s passing, it was only Taako, Barry, and Lup left of the original crew. But Barry and Lup were constantly off doing the business of the Raven Queen and he had his school of magic, so he learned how to make new family. They were only replacements at first, but soon they grew to be their own sort of wonderful and wacky. When Barry and Lup would visit, they could see in Taako’s and Kravitz’s eyes how happy they were. Nothing could ever replace Taako’s original family, but one doesn’t stop loving their family when they have their own children. Just as he wept for Angus and Magnus and Lucretia and Davenport, he wept for his new children and friends. The pain of death never got easier to bear, but Kravitz was a pro with death, and soon Taako learned how to live on with the pain in a healthier manner.

Taako and Kravitz raised so many children together; they gave so many people a home and love and support. But inevitably, all of their children died before they did.

So in the end, Taako admitted himself to a hospice. He was alone and he wanted it to be that way. He was afraid of what Kravitz would feel in the wake of his death, so he hid his identity as well as he could and ran from their home in the middle of one of Kravitz’s long shifts for the Raven Queen.

The orderly, Sarah, looked quite sad when he dragged himself into the hospice and admitted himself. “Do you not have any family to take care of you?” She asked quietly.

“I have family,” he answered just as quietly, “but they’ve all gone already.” Sarah looked stricken and Taako quickly pat her on the hand. “Don’t worry, bubeluh, it has long stopped bothering me. Now I am excited to finally see them, after all this time.”

Sarah chatted with him while she set him up in a room and she patted his bed gently when he was finally comfortably settled. She quickly became his favorite nurse in the hospice, bringing him photos of her wife and children. Once, she even brought in her youngest daughter Hannah. Taako fawned over the little girl, teaching her Mage Hand and Scorching Ray. Her dark eyes lit up when he summoned Garryl into the middle of the room, prancing around. She giggled around his feet and fawned over his beautiful rainbow mane. He even found the strength in his hands to carve her a wand of her own.

Sarah couldn’t seem to thank him enough, apparently Hannah couldn’t stop talking about ‘the kind old elf with the funny jokes’. Taako laughed at that, and every time she stopped by on her rounds, he couldn’t help but smile. He thanked her for bringing in Hannah and he regaled her with stories of a young boy with a nose for puzzles and an impossible knack for solving them. Hannah had reminded him so much of his first magic student and was such a delight to have so close to the end.

It was only about a month or so after Hannah had visited that he felt it. After dying a hundred years in a row, an elf learned how to sense when the end was near, so he called in Sarah to say his goodbyes. Taako gave her his umbrella, non-magical of course, and told her that if he took it to Ren at the Taako’s School of Wizardry, little Hannah would get a full scholarship to the school. Sarah cried, and thanked him profusely for the gift.

Suddenly, Sarah went stock still, and whispered, “I’ve never seen three of them.” Taako froze. He knew that she could see vague impressions of other planes, but the ominous tones hidden in her statement made him nervous.

“Them? Whose them?” It was hard to breathe for Taako.

“They come, I think they help people to the other side.” She grabbed at Taako’s hand desperately. “You’ve meant so much to me, Taako. I hope you find peace on the other side.”

Taako smiled radiantly up at Sarah. “You said there were three of them?” Sarah nodded, she could see their forms becoming more and more clear. Taako looked at peace when he saw her response. “Then I will have no peace on the other side, but probably a whole lot of adventure.” He smiled and the strength in his hand started to fade. Sarah saw his hold body relax and then just, stop moving.

Sarah saw a bright flash in the plane and for a moment she was able to see absolutely clear. She saw Taako, a younger and more spritely version of himself, embracing what appeared to be a true mask of death. She was horrified until she remembered something he had said something long ago about his husband working pretty closely with death. She saw Taako’s spirit smile and wave to her and she smiled back. Sarah knew that this spirit would be safe, it seemed like he was with family.

* * *

The last emotion Taako felt before he died was guilt. He really should have been more specific when talking about his family with Sarah; she looked so scared for him at the end.

But then, nothing much mattered because he was wrapped in the loving arms of his husband and surrounded by his sister and her husband. Kravitz was really squeezing the life, er, death out of him, hugging him so tight he felt like he couldn’t breathe. “Babe, babe. Let me take a breath.” Taako gasped out.

“What were you thinking, disappearing like that?” Kravitz released him from his vice-like hug and instead grabbed his shoulders. “You’re a moron. Why did you run away from me? Why did you run away from us?” Kravitz gestured widely to both Barry and Lup, who both looked like they were about to lose their minds to jump onto Taako. But it seemed like their curiosity would outweigh their desire to hold him in their arms.

Taako was dumbfounded. He had no idea that Kravitz would be this upset and he thought that Kravitz would understand his reasoning. “I didn’t want you to see me suffer at the end, darling. Dying isn’t exactly a glamorous ordeal.” Taako looked at the people surrounding him and saw three identical faces of despair.

“Oh no, you guys. I wanted a party for our reunion and it’s not going to be a pity party. It’s gonna have big lights and fireworks and I’m going to hold that to you, Lup.” He turned to face his sister and opened his arms. “Come here, sis.” Lup smiled wide and jumped into his arms. Taako spun her in a circle while they both laughed merrily.

Taako let go of her and marched up to Barry, who was trying his best to hide tears behind his glasses. “Aww Barold, there’s no point in crying, big man.” Taako wrapped his arms around Barry and squeezed him tight. Once Barry finally let him go, Taako turned grandly. “Now can you take me to the others? I’ve got a lot of family to see.” Kravitz grinned and grabbed his husband’s hand and turned. He opened a blueish void in front of the four of them and stepped through to the other side.

And when they did get to the other side, Taako saw the most beautiful wooden cabin on a beautiful green island. He saw large and small dogs gallivanting on the lawn and an adult man with large glasses and a loopy smile on his face. The man saw the three Reapers and Taako and waved emphatically. “Hello, sir! It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it?” The man called out from the hoard of happy dogs surrounding him.

As if that was their signal, five figures tumbled out of the wooden cabin. Taako saw Magnus charging across the lawn, looking as young as he did during those hundred years of running. He was followed by a young woman that Taako didn’t know, but given what Magnus had told him of his late wife, must be Julia. Behind her was Lucretia, and then Davenport. Merle was trying to keep up with his short legs but was inevitably falling behind. Even Angus was making his way over, having to wade through a large sea of excited furry bodies.

It all was so much for Taako and tears quickly filled his eyes. They were knocked out of his eyes once Magnus tackled him in a bear hug. “Welcome home, buddy. We’ve all been waiting for you.” And for the first time in what feels like forever, Taako smiled, surrounded by all of his family.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! I wrote this as part of an art trade for potionuke on tumblr. Check him out at potionuke.tumblr.com his stuff is amazing! This is my first fic in a while, so I really hope that I got the characterization right. 
> 
> Have a wonderful day!


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